Bike Lane FAIL: Grateful to Not Be Dead in San José

09Aug

There’s a reason things go out of fashion. Often they just don’t work, and in some cases they’re downright painful. This dangerous style of rain grate thankfully went of of fashion in most cities in the late 1970s along with bell bottoms, tie-dye and scraggly long hair. Too bad this bike trap is still seen on the streets of San Jose.

If you don’t know better, the rain grate might not seem like a problem.

But even with my relatively wide city tires, it’s a wheel trap.

The grates further down road are safer. Why did they use an old style one?

They had a similar grate in Hurst, Texas, in new sewer work. When I pointed out the danger, the City Engineer made the contractor replace it with a safer one – no argument and no excuses. You and I recognize the danger, but a child could easily be thrown into traffic and killed. Even if the City doesn’t care, its lawyers DO. Even if nothing happens, keep a copy of the complaint – that kid’s parents will thank you. The Hurst events can be accessed via the web link. I hope to see a similarly inspirational response pop up here!

I sent a request in to the City of San Jose. I’m hoping they’re as responsive as your city. And it’s not just kids in danger. Any novice cyclist, anyone not paying attention, riding after dark–these are all cases where this kind of grate can bring someone down.

I tweeted to @SJ_Bikeshare. I also happen to know John Brazil who’s in charge of the San Jose Department of Transportation bike and pedestrian programs.

Do you have an issue that’s in San Jose?

Rachel Unger

September 29, 2013 at 9:29 pm

We’ve tried emailing through the SJ city website – I asked you here, and it was (of course) only then that it occurred to me that “maybe I can Google that…”
It’s a broken glass issue in the street. I don’t know if they send street sweepers by request or by schedule, but I’ll let you know how this turns out!

Good luck! San Jose has a lot of territory to cover and city budgets are slim. A friend working for city hall lost his job due to budget cuts this summer. He and his wife moved back to Texas which is a real bummer.

Nearly 32,000 Americans die in car crashes annually. 80% of car crashes are PREVENTABLE. If the TOASTER was killing that many people we'd think it was ridiculous. We'd un-plug it and say, let's Fix The Toaster.